occasionally bombarding the headquarters in an irregular manner

November 13, 2012

disillusion moment

the Director of RFA's Tibetan service is sacked with immediate effect, for reasons as yet unclear. A colleague writes in support:

I have heard when the person in charge announced the dismissal of Mr. Ngapo Jigme in the presence of the staff of the Tibetan service, he refused to give any reasons for the dismissal. Meanwhile, the security personnel of RFA were ordered to escort Mr. Ngapo Jigme out of the building, and the action itself is tantamount to banishing him from the building. Nobody can understand why Mr. Ngapo, who is upright and has been dedicated to his work, is treated with such humiliation after having worked conscientiously for the media and journalism for 16 years.

I once worked for the media within the system under Chinese Communist Party control, and I knew well the ways how autocratic power works. But it has never occurred to me that, in a democratic society, dismissing one from his post can be done in such an autocratic way as well. The reasons for for the dismissal were neither explained, nor was the character and dignity of the person concerned taken into account.

There are any number of people in China who think that not being sacked on the spot and bundled out of the building with a bin bag by security guards is an integral part of that whole living in a democracy thing: it follows from living in the kind of place where every pissant has an anthill from which they can piss all over you. And it's a shame they're not right.